


Assassin's Task

by Winter_Lazuli



Category: Original Work
Genre: Assassin/Target - Freeform, Cross-Posted on FictionPress, F/M, Romantic Tragedy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-06
Updated: 2019-11-06
Packaged: 2021-01-24 09:00:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,796
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21335638
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Winter_Lazuli/pseuds/Winter_Lazuli
Summary: Despite what she was instructed to do, she couldn't do it.
Relationships: Original Female Character/Original Male Character





	Assassin's Task

Two figures stood on the rooftop of the skyscraper, ignoring the rain that poured down on them as they stared each other down. Both were tired from the fight they had just fought, one for his life, the other for her duty.

"Liz…" He couldn't believe who was standing in front of him, who had just tried to kill him. "These past 2 years… They were a lie, weren't they?" He asked, the betrayal of his wife still the most painful thing amidst all the wounds she had inflicted on him in their fight. He watched her as he tried to catch whatever air he could, exhausted and heartbroken. She said nothing, having no words for the man who had her whole heart despite what she was assigned to do.

* * *

_"Assassin Lang, you have been contracted to kill the man in this file." She didn't know who he was personally, but this contract ensured that that fact would soon change._

_"Noah Lombard…" She read. "Owner of Lombard Industries, 26 years of age…" The more she read, the more she understood why someone would want to have him murdered. While she didn't have an exact idea about what he did to warrant having an assassin set on him, she figured that he had stepped on someone's toes too hard, maybe breached one too many contracts with him. He didn't seem too hard to bump off… This would be an easy job._

_"Count on me."_

* * *

It wasn't an easy job at all.

Why did this man have to be so charming? Why, when they first met, him giving a press conference and her posing as a reporter for the city's local paper, did he have to invite her for dinner and sweep her off her feet that night? Why did he give her the urge to constantly be in contact with him, constantly be by his side?

Why did she say yes to that dinner in the first place?

* * *

_"So… Elizabeth Samuel Lang, what got you into journalism?" She remembered him asking. Making small talk, she assumed._

_Not that she minded._

_"It was how all these fake news nowadays bothered me. It still does. I pursued journalism to hopefully give some credibility back to the honest ones." She sipped her wine and smiled. "What about you, Mr. Lombard? How did you rise up to where you are now?"_

_A laugh. "Mr. Lombard? Please, Ms. Lang, Noah is fine." He smiled a smile filled with charm. "It may sound weird, considering all the stories about how people like me inherit their fortunes and companies, but I'm not one of those people. I had to work my way up." He took a sip of wine. "Would you believe I started in my biggest rival company as a desk jockey?"_

_"Really now?"_

_Another sip. "Really. It was very tough. My boss was very demanding and hard to deal with. That sort of behavior was what got me to promise to myself that if I ever rose up in the world, I would be a better sort of boss. No cuts in salary for small mistakes, no lashing out simply because it was a bad day." He smiled. "I think that's why no one in my office has ever left on their own accord yet."_

_This time, she laughed. In her mind, she was surprised by this. She hadn't laughed in ages. Why now?_

_"Does that sort of nice treatment apply as well to all the female reporters you take out to dinner?"_

_"You mean the only female reporter whom I've taken out for dinner." He took another sip of wine. "You're a rather interesting person, Ms. Lang."_

_"Please, Mr- er, Noah. My friends call me Liz."_

* * *

The memory stopped as fast as it had played in her head. Elizabeth Lombard looked at Noah, who was still watching her. Her eyes softened from their steely gaze. Unfortunately, he took the chance to try and wrestle the gun away from her. She fought back, but he pushed her down…

* * *

_"Noah!"_

_She laughed as he pushed her down onto the bed, enjoying the sound of his laughter as well. They shared a kiss, and both of them sat up. Noah laughed and put a hand on her shoulder. That hand that she had come to associate with the warmth she loved so much from him._

_"I've got a question, Liz. Have you ever considered settling down? Maybe considered the childhood sort of marriage?"_

_"Once or twice, but I've never really entertained the thought. Why, have you?"_

_"I've been thinking seriously for quite a while, Liz. If you'll entertain that kind of thought now…" With that, he stood up from the bed, got on one knee, pulled a small velvet box out of his pocket, and smiled at her._

_"In those once or twice moments you've thought of it, have you ever considered me?"_

_"Noah?"_

_He opened the box to reveal a beautiful silver ring, and Liz knew what that ring was. As an assassin, very few things fazed her. Nevertheless, this was one of the things that did. "N-Noah…"_

_"Elizabeth Samuel Lang, will you marry me?"_

_A moment of silence stood between them, but that moment was not spent on making up her mind. It was spent on something different._

_"Yes… Yes! Yes!" Her laugh was full of glee, and so was his smile as he slipped the ring on her finger. They shared a kiss, and it was the kiss that told her she didn't have to be alone again._

* * *

**What happened to that moment?** She asked herself now, looking at her husband on top of her, though in a different situation from their usual nights. **I didn't deserve that happiness, and now look at me now.**

"Liz, why?" Noah asked, pining her down, yet refusing to harm her. "Why try to fulfill that contract now, after all this time?"

She winced as she recalled the memory, the reason why they were in this situation now…

* * *

_"Mrs. Lombard, a letter for you came in the mail."_

_"Thank you, Lewis, I'll take it." Elizabeth Lombard smiled as the butler left, and sat down as she opened the envelope. Her thoughts on who sent envelopes these days faded, and so did her smile, as she read the contents of the letter in her hands._

_ **Elizabeth Lang,** _

_ **We have heard no word from you in two years' time. We assume you have forgotten your contract, seeing how you married your mark rather than killing him.** _

_ **Remember the oath you made when we took you in. You swore the duty came before personal happiness.** _

_ **You have a week from when you receive this letter to complete your contract and kill Noah Lombard, otherwise he will be killed by someone else's hands, and yours will hold his in death. They say death do you part. Yet, we promise the death away from your hands will be much more slow and painful for him, and the same fate would await you.** _

_ **Perhaps death by your hands would be much swifter. You have your time limit. It is either his death, your own, or both your deaths by painful means. Either way, someone must die.** _

_She immediately burned the letter. No matter what she considered, she couldn't think of a way out of this mess. It was decided. As much as she hated this, she would have to pull one last assassination._

_Her husband's._

* * *

"Get… OFF!" Noah Lombard's back hit the concrete of the rooftop as Elizabeth pushed him off her. She got up and aimed her gun. "Please, I don't want to do this, but- "She was interrupted by a kick to her hands, the gun landing away from them. Her wrists were held onto tightly as she struggled to break free.

"Elizabeth, you told me everything, and I… I don't know what still made me fall in love with you and throw away the idea of common sense for you." He said, panting. "But please, dear, if you're going to kill me, I won't go gently into that good night." He smiled that charming smile.

"How can you smile now, even through this?"

"Because Liz, I know that deep down, you don't want to do this. If you did, we wouldn't have reached the second date." His smile dropped, and his tone turned acidic.

"Then again, maybe you let it go on this long to trick me further."

* * *

_She exited the elevator to his office late at night, steeling herself. She couldn't let her heart get in the way. She rang the office bell, and heard his voice._

_"Liz! What a pleasant surprise. Is everything alright, darling?" He asked her, immediately getting up and going to her to wrap his wife in his arms, only to freeze in his tracks when she pulled out a gun and pointed it at his head._

_"I'm sorry Noah… But this will be better than what they could ever plan for you."_

* * *

"You really expected that being killed by my own wife wouldn't hurt even more than a slow death?" He asked her, his voice rising. "Why would you think that? Why would you believe that there was no other way out of this mess? Why, Elizabeth?!"

She pulled away. "Because I've seen what they can do, Noah! I've seen what happens to those who refuse to kill their targets, and both they and the target suffers an even worse fate!"

"Did you ever love me at all?!" The moment the last word of the sentence left his lips, he wished he could take it back. "Liz, I didn't mean that, I-"

She pushed him back and stepped away. "No, Mr. Lombard, you don't have to say anything." She continued to move back as she spoke. "I know very well I betrayed you, and I'm sorry. I wouldn't have done it if I wasn't faced with that threat. I didn't want you to suffer that way."

"… We could have done it together."

"… I know." She stopped moving.

"… You had so many opportunities to kill me. You could have done it without being caught at all, I've seen you use that sort of skill. Why didn't you take it?"

He looked up to see her standing on the ledge. Her mouth opened to reply.

"Because despite everything, even though I can't be anything beyond who I am… Maybe a part of me did love you. Maybe that part grew to become everything." She smiled, her eyes filled with tears. "I love you Noah. And I'm sorry."

He noticed her footing, and he instantly rushed forward, desperate. "Wait, Liz, WAIT!-"

It was too late. Elizabeth Samuel Lombard's foot pushed her off the ledge, sending her falling to the ground below as she smiled sadly.

**Author's Note:**

> This was my first ever original work posted online, and I'm excited to be able to cross-post it here on AO3! Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoyed!


End file.
